A+E Interactive » FIFA 10http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei
Bay Area Arts and Entertainment BlogMon, 30 Mar 2015 12:40:46 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1FIFA 10 surprisingly popular in the U.S.http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2009/12/04/fifa-10-surprisingly-popular-in-the-u-s/
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2009/12/04/fifa-10-surprisingly-popular-in-the-u-s/#commentsSat, 05 Dec 2009 01:06:44 +0000Gieson Cachohttp://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/?p=17314
If you were up early this morning and turned on ESPN 2, you were probably checking out the World Cup 2010 draw. I was moderately excited and checked it out while flipping channels, but a number of folks in the… Continue Reading →]]>
If you were up early this morning and turned on ESPN 2, you were probably checking out the World Cup 2010 draw. I was moderately excited and checked it out while flipping channels, but a number of folks in the newsroom were in full-blown cheering mode. The United States ended up with England and we landed in Group C, which is apparently a good thing.
My enthusiastic comrades remind me that the soccer's popularity in the United States has been steadily growing, and nothing proves this more than the success of FIFA 10. Here are some stats EA revealed this week with my comments in bold:
* EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer sales have grown 189 percent since the
2002 FIFA World Cup. I can see this happening. It's better than sales going down.
* North America is the No. 2 market for the EA SPORTS FIFA
Soccer franchise, second only to the U.K. and surpassing other
soccer-crazed countries such as Spain and Germany. I'm very surprised at this. Then again, we do have a ton of people in this country.
* An average of 741,900 games of EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer 10 are
played each day in the U.S. That's 11,592 FIFA World Cups played per
day. Eh
* FIFA Soccer 10 sold more 4.5 million units in its first 5
weeks at retail, making it the biggest sports videogame launch in
history. Not a surprise. Soccer is a global game.
* FIFA Soccer is the fourth largest EA SPORTS videogame
franchise in North America (behind Madden, Tiger Woods and NCAA
Football). I wonder what this says about NBA Live and the NHL game.
To mark the occassion, I had a quick chat with Sam Cooper, the global product manager for the game. He didn't give away EA Sports' plans for the World Cup, but like last time, I expect that we may see a separate FIFA World Cup edition in the future. I mean the publisher did the same thing last time.
We spoke more about FIFA 10's role in making soccer more popular in America. I figure that it has a similar role to soccer that Madden NFL has to the growth of football. Video games can be entry ways to sports and EA's soccer game is no exception.
Cooper credits the game's high ratings to part of its popularity. "We rely on the development team," he said about EA Canada. "We get a lot of our buzz because of the quality." The other side of the equation is the game's accessibility. "It's not the NFL, where you need a coach, pads, pitch. The game is easy to pick up and play."
But ultimately, for casual fans with a mild interest in the World Cup, FIFA 10can be a way to get to know the sport and its star players. Playing the game, fans will get to know the likes of Theo Walcott and Wayne Rooney so that when the World Cup comes along in June, they can be somewhat of an expert and perhaps even talk footy with the hard-core fans.
That's how Cooper ended up getting to know the NHL while living in the United Kingdom. Living across the pond, he had never seen an NHL game live, but playing video games allowed him to be introduced to the sport enough to appreciate it and the players.
FIFA 10 can be that doorway for soccer, but it's up to the casual fan to step through it.]]>http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2009/12/04/fifa-10-surprisingly-popular-in-the-u-s/feed/20FIFA Soccer 10FIFA Soccer 10